


daughter, hold thy head high

by someawkwardprose



Series: fragments (snippets from the blue) [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Jedi Apprentice Series - Jude Watson & Dave Wolverton
Genre: Child Neglect, Gen, Queer Themes, Qui-Gon Jinn Bashing, Trans Female Character, just a smige but. melida/daan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:08:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28412916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/someawkwardprose/pseuds/someawkwardprose
Summary: She tells Master Tahl first, after Melida/Daan.
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Tahl
Series: fragments (snippets from the blue) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2080962
Comments: 7
Kudos: 142





	daughter, hold thy head high

**Author's Note:**

> just moving my tumblr drabbles over here for archiving! very mild tw for accidental deadnaming, mentions of melida/daan, self-esteem issues, fear of future transphobia, and qui-gon issues. originally posted [here](https://someawkwardprose.tumblr.com/post/618936738808840192/mtfobi-drabble-tahl-obi-wan-very-mild-tw-for)

She tells Master Tahl first, after Cerasi. She’s fifteen and traumatised, and as if the battlefield in her mind isn’t enough, her body has to betray her too. 

Despite her blindness, it feels as though Master Tahl can see right through her. She does her best not to cry, but it’s hard when the older woman wraps her arms around her shoulders, and pulls her close. 

“Oh, Ben,” Master Tahl sighs, stroking her fingers through her short hair, tugging at the stub that will one day become her Padawan braid again, if she’s lucky. “That’s it, sweetheart. Just let it out.” 

She sobs into the Master Jedi’s chest, because it doesn’t feel right; that name, the short hair, the way her voice is deepening, her shoulders broadening, it’s all _wrong_. Master Tahl lets her, doesn’t shush her, just rubs her back and soothes her like a babe. It feels like she’s been repressing everything for years, and this is what finally broke her. 

When she finally calms, Master Tahl doesn’t say anything to her, simply sends her assistant droid to fetch a glass of water. She pulls away to wipe her face on her own robes, and Tahl lets her, but doesn’t let her move too far, as TooJay trundles back.

“Drink,” Master Tahl orders, gently, and she does. “That’s a good girl.” 

It almost sets her off again, but she uses her embarrassment to repress it, whispering her thanks.

“Now Ben - do you want me to call you Ben? Or have you-” 

“Obi-Wan,” she interrupts, her voice hoarse. “We, I - that was what the Young called me.” 

“Obi-Wan,” Master Tahl repeats, her voice encouraging. “It’s beautiful. Stewjoni, yes?” 

“Yeah,” Obi-Wan replies, and doesn’t elaborate. 

“Okay, Obi-Wan. Have you - have you told anyone else?” 

Cerasi, who had been like her. Neild, who had rolled his eyes and said he wasn’t sure he wanted two sisters. Countless members of the Young who hadn’t given a damn about her pronouns as long as she could fight. Most of them were gone now, and the few that lived hated her guts. But what she’s really asking, of course, is if she told Master Jinn, so Obi-Wan shakes her head. 

“Do you want to?” 

Obi-Wan swallows. “He’s already mad at me.”

Master Tahl’s nose flares, and Obi-Wan feels her release a flare of anger into the Force, before her Force presence wrapped around Obi-Wan’s. “Do you want me to tell him?” 

“What if he doesn’t want me anymore?” 

Tahl knows as well as Obi-Wan that it’s not an unfounded fear. 

“He will,” Master Tahl states, a determined kind of viciousness in the words, a kind of coldness that makes Obi-Wan almost flinch.

“But -” 

But she’s already his problem Padawan. Master Jinn hadn’t wanted to take her on in the first place, and Obi-Wan isn’t stupid, she knows that Master Yoda had orchestrated their reintroduction, if not the events that came after. Everyone thinks she doesn’t know how her Master had to be ordered to take her back, when bribery hadn’t worked. 

“You will be a Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi,” Master Tahl promises. “I’ll make sure of it.” 


End file.
